Regulation

Debit cards offered through crypto payment service Wirex may stop functioning in the European Economic Area (EEA), according to a June 23 email the company sent to some of its customers. The threat of stoppage was triggered by Lithuania’s central bank revoking the license of UAB PayrNet, Wirex’s card provider. This news comes after Wirex’s

British Hacker Joseph O’Connor, also known online as PlugwalkJoe, has been sentenced to five years in U.S. prison for his role in stealing $794,000 worth of cryptocurrency via a SIM swap attack on a crypto exchange executive back in April 2019. O’Connor was initially arrested in Spain in July 2021 and was extradited to the

The CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Julia Leung Fung-yee, addressed Hong Kong’s embrace of Web3 regulation following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX last November, noting that crypto trading is an important part of the virtual asset ecosystem. During a recent speech, Leung reportedly explained that the new licensing system for

The four major media outlets advocating for the release of FTX customer names have opposed the decision to seal them. Meanwhile, a crypto lawyer told Cointelegraph that “there is clear evidence” of potential harm if the names were to be disclosed. According to a Reuters report published on June 23, Bloomberg, Dow Jones & Company,

Fabio Panetta, an executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), has suggested a dark future for cryptocurrencies, in which the digital assets may be used for little more than gambling among investors. In written remarks for a panel at the Bank for International Settlements Annual Conference on June 23, Panetta said crypto’s perception

The Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has ordered major cryptocurrency exchange Binance to stop offering crypto exchange and custody wallet services.  In a June 23 notice, the FSMA said that by Binance offering crypto-related services “from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area,” the exchange was violating Belgian laws on

Singapore based cryptocurrency exchange service provider Crypto.com has obtained a virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration from the Bank of Spain. The regulatory approval would allow the exchange to offer a range of crypto-focused services to customers in Spain, a country which has shown a positive crypto stance in recent times. The crypto exchange platfrom

U.S. crypto exchange Binance.US has informed customers it has resolved its U.S. dollar withdrawal issues after working with its banking partners but warns the relief may not last. The reportedly independent subsidiary of crypto exchange Binance told customers in a June 22 update that its system remains fully operational and that USD withdrawal requests are

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reiterated its calls for crypto regulation across certain countries but said an outright ban may not be the best approach. In a June 22 report on Latin America and the Caribbean, the IMF pointed to various approaches taken by local governments in addressing the adoption of cryptocurrencies and central

Deputy Alfredo Gaspar, a member of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, has requested the summoning of Guilherme Haddad, the director of Binance Brazil, to appear before the Brazilian parliament as part of an ongoing Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) investigation into alleged pyramid schemes in the country. The June 21 request will be voted on by members

Cryptocurrency fund manager Valkyrie is applying for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), joining several other financial firms that have filed similar applications with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the last week. Valkyrie filed an S-1 registration form for a Bitcoin spot ETF with the SEC on June 21. In it, the firm

The United States Federal Reserve Board sees payment stablecoins as a form of money, Chair Jerome Powell said during questioning at the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee’s semi-annual hearing on Fed policy on June 21.  Powell’s comments came in response to committee ranking member Maxine Waters, who asked for his reaction to the proposed

The government of China had been trying hard to make people believe that Bitcoin (BTC) would become worthless, but its predictions to date have been far off the mark. The original crypto currency has gained as much as 36% since official statements a year ago that it would become worthless. Amid a wild bear market

A diverse group of United States enforcement agencies has made official its cooperation on crimes related to the darknet and digital currency with the announcement of the Darknet Marketplace and Digital Currency Crimes Task Force on June 20. The new organization will target “cryptocurrency-enabled crimes” such as drug trafficking, money laundering, theft of personal information

Consumer protection groups from the European Union (EU) have urged regulators to conduct investigations on artificial intelligence (AI) models behind popular chatbots.  According to a report from the AP on Tuesday, 13 watchdog groups issued a warning to their national consumer, data protection, competition and product safety authorities regarding concerns about generative AI. The groups

Despite seeing themselves as more “risk averse” than their older counterparts, nearly a third of all young Australian investors hold or have traded cryptocurrencies over the last year, a new study has found. In an Australian investor study from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), 46% of “next generation investors” — the report’s terminology for investors